page_title: National Liberal Federation
section_title: Birmingham
hierarchical_section_title: National Liberal Federation / Birmingham
caption_attribution_description: Men of the Day No.542: Caricature of Mr Francis Schnadhorst. Caption reads: "The Caucus"
context_page_description: The National Liberal Federation was the union of all English and Welsh Liberal Associations. It held an annual conference which was regarded as being representative of the opinion of the party's rank and file and was broadly the equivalent of a present-day party conference.
context_section_description: The NLF's early associations were with the city of Birmingham. Its structure – which became known as the "Caucus" – was modelled on that of the Birmingham Liberal Association, founded in 1865, which had been so effective in building a mass membership and an efficient electioneering body in the city under the political leadership of Joseph Chamberlain, and drawing on the strategic and organisational skills of William Harris (secretary 1868–73) and Francis Schnadhorst (secretary 1873–84). At the establishment of the NLF, Chamberlain was elected its president (1877–80), Harris its chairman (1877–82), Schnadhorst its salaried secretary (1877–93), and John Skirrow Wright, another Birmingham activist, its treasurer (1877–1880).
caption: "The Caucus": 1892 caricature of Francis Schnadhorst, Secretary of the National Liberal Federation 1877–93, published in Vanity Fair
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